Eternights is an action JRPG/dating sim, and is the inaugural title from indie developer Studio Sai. With some obvious inspiration from the likes of Persona, and a suddenly earlier release date than what was originally planned, it’s time to see if this apocalyptic romance action game has what it takes to stand on its own in our Eternights review.

Typical Look

The Unity Engine was chosen for development, and it handles most action Eternights throws at it without much issue. Graphically, a cel-shaded effect was chosen, and there’s not much here style-wise; it’d be hard for most people to point out a screenshot from this game compared to most other JRPGs, unless of course the screenshot includes the protagonist’s special arm, which in the early goings of the game is violently removed and replaced by some sort of energy.

Speaking of the story, Eternights is kind of all over the map in that regard. You play as an 18-year-old male whom you name, who lives in a typical major metropolitan area during the release of a new super anti-aging drug, the titular Eternight. Of course, things do not go as planned with the release of this drug, and soon most people who have taken it start turning into bloodthirsty monsters, though some of them retain weak shells of their former selves. So, they’re basically zombies by another name. Naturally, your character just barely escapes an early death, and at the end of a very strange sequence of events involving a dating app, imminent defeat, and a scythe, the player character has his right arm replaced with what appears to be a beam of energy. As the player and his best friend are at the end of their teenage years, there are plenty of immature jokes about how it just so happened to be his RIGHT arm which got chopped off, and how unfortunate that is considering it happened to a guy. Eternights has no shortage of innuendo, though none of it gets more explicit than teenage-level jokes about porn, or tentacles.

Atypical Progression

While Eternights is a JRPG, it handles leveling in a non-traditional way. You are encouraged, though not required, to spend time with the other characters who join you on your journey, who are known as confidants. By helping them scavenge for materials, train, or simply talking them through some trauma, they can level up – how much, and in which aspects, depends upon your performance during these segments. However, in many cases, your time is limited, as there is usually some hard deadline by which you have to defeat a certain enemy, or prevent something from happening. Much like in, say, a Persona game, there is a constant sense of urgency as you manage time spent improving your relationships versus taking on mandatory tasks. The good news is that if you do manage to stop the current countdown early, you’ll still have the same amount of time to spend with your companions as if you waited until the final day. So it’s up to you if you want to tackle the foreboding boss early, take it on after leveling up your confidants a couple of times, or wait until you’re basically forced into the final showdown.

I tended to wait a little longer to take on bosses, because Eternights’ combat is not its strong suit. It’s mostly a hack-n-slash, with a heavy emphasis on timing dodges and/or parries to get the upper hand on enemies. Pressing the dodge button at the right moment slows down time, and grants the player some temporary invincibility, where they can hack away at all enemies, building up combos to unleash more powerful moves. The problem, though, is that even on the normal difficulty level, most enemies have a ton of health and take a while to defeat unless you wait for them to strike. Some of these monsters have ranged attacks, and they will shoot at you from across the room, with no on-screen indicator to help you know when a projectile is coming right for you. A red ping with accompanying sound effect does occur with any attack headed your way, but only when the attack is launched, which can be difficult to hear when in the thick of combat.

Some Damage Sponges…

Once the story has progressed to certain points, some new combat options do open up to change things up and help the player overcome stronger enemies. In some cases, these enemies are basically invincible until their shields are brought down, which can only be accomplished via special elementally-charged attacks. Those special attacks consume a circular meter, which is filled up by successfully attacking, dodging, or parrying. This means the best strategy for defeating the biggest enemy in the room is often taking out the peons first, because whacking away at a shielded enemy and doing no damage is annoying.

Outside of combat, a lot of the story takes place on a train, which is cruising along the city streets (or, inexplicably, not moving) as a way to avoid the infected which are ravaging the world. Dungeons come with no map, which means that you will occasionally get turned around and end up heading in the wrong direction from time to time. Backtracking can feel tedious, and it seems to be due in part to the game sometimes not making it clear which way you need to go.

Verdict

Eternights will take most players approximately 15 hours to complete on the normal difficulty level, and it does feature different endings, thus encouraging multiple playthroughs to experience all the different ways in which the world can end (or not). Although some of the story has cringeworthy, teenage humor, it is fitting given the age of the protagonist and his friends. Important cutscenes are fully-voiced (with the exception of the player character), with interstitial scenarios acting more like graphic novels with 3D models. There are of course no multiplayer options, as this is strictly a single-player game. Checkpoints are fairly generous, and dying simply resets you to the last one reached, with all enemies reset. Getting past a particularly challenging segment simply involves using the proper strategy.

Eternights can occasionally be rough around the edges, but there is a charming JRPG within that fans of the genre are sure to enjoy. Sure, the story may be all over the place, but at around a 15-hour play time, the hijinks also don’t overstay their welcome. Combat can also occasionally frustrate with some uninterruptible animations and a merciless window of time with which to perform dodges and parries, but most people should be able to adapt to it, and there is also the easier difficulty to try out if things get too dicey. Being an indie developer, Studio Sai should be applauded for producing a well-rounded JRPG that many genre fans will have a blast with.

Score: 7.5/10

Pros:

• Unique leveling system
• Fully-voiced (major) cutscenes
• Rewarding combat when it works

Cons:

• Story can get nonsensical
• Combat can frustrate with timing requirements
• Graphically uninspiring

Eternights review code provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.